“Shadowing” the legal secretary/legal assistant (what is a “typical” day like?)

This is a fictional “tale” although very true-to-life.

Brianna arrives at her desk at 8:20 a.m. (start time is 8:30 a.m.).

She boots up her computer, looks down at her chair and notices 2 dictation tapes her attorney has left her to transcribe from the previous night.

Brianna powers up her transcribing machine, checks her e-mail (she has 7 new e-mails).  2 of them are from the administrator advising of upcoming changes to the benefit plan and a reminder that Friday is “casual” day; 2 are from other legal secretaries in the firm asking if she has a “Notice of Clarification of Representation” form and “Notice of Deposition Duces Tecum” form; 2 are from her attorney asking her for a date a complaint was filed in a high profile case they’re working on and if she remembered to pay his mortgage payment; and the last one is from a client requesting a teleconference with her attorney.

Brianna prints out the important e-mails, runs over to the break room to get her first cup of coffee for the day and checks the calendar to see if there are any hearings, depositions, teleconferences or in-house client meetings scheduled for the day. 

She sees that her attorney has an in-house deposition scheduled for 1p.m.  and once again checks with the receptionist to make sure the conference room has been reserved.  She also has in front of her a confirmation that the court reporter will be in the office at approximately 12:45 p.m. 

Brianna e-mails the assistants who asked her for forms and then begins transcribing the dictation tapes.

10 minutes into transcribing the tapes, the telephone rings and it’s the client who sent the e-mail wondering if the attorney is available for the telephone conference.  Brianna explains that the attorney is participating in a teleconference at the moment and that once he is done, she will consult with him concerning the client’s request.

The client asks if the attorney has that date/time open for the teleconference but Brianna advises that she will have to check with the attorney first before she commits that time to the client.

Brianna writes this request down on her legal pad so that she can refer to it once the attorney arrives.  She also makes a note to remind herself to mention to the attorney that she did send in his mortgage payment.

Back to the dictation tapes.  Brianna types until 9:30 a.m. when her attorney arrives in the office.  They greet each other.  The attorney asks if there are any messages or anything that he should know about. 

Brianna advises that a client has called and requested a teleconference.  The attorney advises Brianna that Tuesday at 9:45 a.m. will work for him.  She calls the client, the client agrees to the date/time and Brianna marks the attorneys calendar accordingly.  She also advises the attorney that she did, indeed, pay his mortgage payment and the receipt is in the usual spot in his desk drawer.

Brianna continues working on the dictation tape.  She is trying to finish the 2 tapes before the deposition at 1 p.m. so that the attorney can review the correspondence, make changes, etc. 

Brianna finishes the tapes at 11 a.m., prints out the draft correspondence, proofreads it thoroughly and places the drafts of the correspondence (with envelopes attached) on the attorney’s chair.  She then catches up on her filing while she waits for her attorney to review her work.

The attorney hands back the correspondence to her with a few revisions.  Brianna makes the revisions, proofreads her documents again and gives them back to the attorney final review and signature.

The attorney leaves for lunch at 12 noon and advises that he will return at 12:45 p.m. in time for the deposition.

Brianna checks the attorney’s office and sees the correspondence in his “Out” basket.  She makes the necessary copies, meters the envelopes in the postage machine and places the envelopes in the bin designated for outgoing mail.

Since Brianna’s attorney is in deposition from approximately 1 p.m. to 5 p.m., it’s important that Brianna take this time to catch up on some of her other work.

The mail arrived at 10:30 a.m. and at 1 p.m. Brianna finally had a chance to take a look at it.  In it is a copy of a Motion to Dismiss.  Brianna makes a copy of the motion for the attorney and marks at the top of it “RJM Work Copy”.  This indicates that this is the attorney’s copy and the original is in the file.

Brianna has several files on her desk which need to be indexed.  She begins indexing and also handles several telephone calls for her attorney in between.  The senior partner stops by to see if Brianna’s attorney is available to meet with her.  Brianna advises that he is in deposition until 5 p.m. but will be happy to pass a message along to him. 

Brianna prepares several e-mails to her attorney advising of the senior partner’s message as well as the telephone calls that have come in just in case the attorney wants to call his clients back after his deposition is over.

5:30 p.m. - Brianna straightens up her desk, shuts down her computer and leaves for the day.